Officials: US agrees to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine

Russia had no right to take Crimea. On the basis of your logic the Germans should march into Kaliningrad (aka Konigsberg) as the place once belonged
to them.

Kalingrad is Russian now th Germans lost it as it was taken from them. Jerusalem is Israel now as it was taken from the Arabs. Crimes is Russian
now as it was taken from Ukraine. Cincinatti is American now as it was taken from the Indians. Are you seeing a well trodden path here?

Exactly.

Legality is irrelevant when guns do the talking.

Crimea is not going to go back to Russia. Unless Ukraine take it back but thats not likely to happen as Ukraine doesn't have the power.

Putin winning not losing. He's taken south ostia, transdenistra, Donbas, Sevastopol. Stopped the Tanks in their tracks. A true genius in defence
against an outside that has tried for 100 years to asset strip central Asia. Look how far they got. Russia stands firm. My best advice is spend the
borrowed trillions on sailing your CSGS to third world lands and go and bomb the towel heads, your good at it

Russia is doing a great job in keeping outsiders from the other side of world from colonising it's borders. It's boots on the ground that count and
Crimes has Russian military in control and that's what ultimately counts.

I'd argue that Putin kind of wasted his opportunity. Out the areas he has annexed the only one that has any strategic value is Crimea. And that's
pretty much the last expansion Russia will see in Putin's lifetime unless they want to go to war. Yes, the chaos wrought by these actions has pretty
much ensured that Ukraine and Georgia will never be able to join NATO. But they were both decades away from meeting the requirements anyway.

Also, if the West wants the resources in Russia, why waste other resources to get them? It seems like the current strategy of collapsing Russia's
economy will do just fine. Eventually Putin will have to play ball unless he wants his people eating moss like the North Koreans. And to think, it was
Putin's annexation of Crimea that allowed this strategy to come in to being.

Russia is doing just fine. It hasn't capitulated yet to the west. Indeed it is taking back its sphere of influence. Much of the FSU is leaning towards
Moscow once again in the face of Islamic terror (created by the west) and they knoiw if there is one state they can rely on it is their brother
Russia. Even Ukraine will lean back towards Russia at some point. Sure you will always have the Nazi offspring of Auschwitz campo guards in Lvov
desperate to attack anything Russian but most Ukranians share everything with mother Russia and are Slavs. Even today Poroshenko is mulling over
purchasing Russian gas if its the right price. As much as Washington policy makers don't get it, Ukraine and Russia are one of the same, you can't
mover them apart, they are neighbours and always will be. At some point all the western orchestrated plots will be fought off and the union will
rekindle. The business men who are behind the scenes are the very same types. They all piss in the same pot. Poroshenko flew into Tel Aviv a couple of
days after the coup in Kiev to have a meeting with his masters. Trust me, they all piss in the same pot whether it's oligarchy from Moscow or Kiev.
There's more chance of installing true democracy in Iraq than there is in Ukraine. Corruption rules the roost like most of the FSU. Plus now we have
the frozen conflict in Donbas that can be turned up or down at Putin's will and has secured Ukraine free of NATO for as long as Moscow wants. Pretty
perfect result in keeping the enemy at bay.

originally posted by: yommm
Russia is a super power. Russia don't need Belarus backing. Crimea was illegally taken from Russia and given to Ukraine by Khruschev. Russia had the
right to take it back.

No, Russia is not a superpower. They have no significant allies, low "soft power"and a GDP about the size of South Korea. The only thing that scares
the grown ups is the number of nukes the Russians keep in their cupboard.

Russia had no right to take Crimea. On the basis of your logic the Germans should march into Kaliningrad (aka Konigsberg) as the place once belonged
to them.

Germany ceded Kaliningrad to Russia following military defeat. Russia did not cede Crimea to Ukraine following military defeat.

No, Russia is not a superpower. Their economy is in shambles and their projection is negligible.

Also, your analogy makes no sense. Crimea wasn't given to Ukraine by some third party. Khrushchev was the Premier of the USSR, aka the leader. A more
apt (but still not 100% comparison) would be the Louisiana Territory in the US. I don't think anyone claims that territory still legally belongs to
France after Napoleon gave it to us.

So why would Crimea still belong to Russia when the leader of Russia gave it to Ukraine?

Khrushev was the leader of the USSR, not the leader of Russia or Ukraine. Maybe he did have such as authority, but Russians never accepted Khrushev's
move.

If the UN secretary general takes California from America and gives it to China, maybe that is legal, but Americans would never accept his
move.

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